The New York Yankees dropped a tight one on Sunday, September 6, falling 4-3 to the San Diego Padres in nine innings at Petco Park. Gerrit Cole took the loss after surrendering four earned runs on six hits across seven innings, while four Padres hitters went deep to sink New York's road chances. Mason Miller shut the door with a perfect ninth — three strikeouts on one inning of work — to earn the save and seal a one-run defeat that will sting the Yankees.

Gerrit Cole Struggles Against Padres Power Lineup

Cole was serviceable in terms of volume — seven innings, no walks, only three strikeouts — but he couldn't contain a Padres lineup that kept finding the seats. Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, Manny Machado, and Luis Campusano each homered against Cole, accounting for all four San Diego runs. That's four home runs allowed in seven innings, and when your offense doesn't match that output, there's nowhere to hide.

Credit Cole for limiting the damage to only those four runs and keeping the Yankees in the game deep into the contest, but this was not the outing New York needed on the road.

Padres Pitching Kept Yankees Bats Quiet

Michael King — formerly of the Yankees, now firmly entrenched as a Padres weapon — was the story on the mound. King went six shutout innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out three. He picked up the win, and it had to feel good doing it against his old organization.

Bradgley Rodriguez followed with a clean inning — two strikeouts, no hits, no runs. Adrian Morejon ran into trouble in the eighth, giving up three hits, a walk, and two earned runs, which is where the Yankees manufactured their three runs and made things briefly interesting. But Mason Miller came on in the ninth and ended any comeback hopes immediately, striking out the side to close it out.

Key Performances

  • Fernando Tatis Jr.: 1-for-4, one home run, one RBI
  • Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-4, one home run, one RBI
  • Manny Machado: 1-for-3, one home run, one RBI
  • Luis Campusano: 2-for-3, one home run, one RBI
  • Gerrit Cole (L): 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
  • Michael King (W): 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
  • Mason Miller (SV): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Turning Point: Four Padres Home Runs Off Cole

There wasn't one single at-bat that flipped this game — it was a steady drip of damage. Tatis, Cronenworth, Machado, and Campusano each took Cole deep at different points, building a lead that the Yankees never fully erased. The three-run eighth gave New York a pulse, but Morejon's blowup came one inning too late to change the result.

The Yankees had their chances — particularly against Morejon — but Miller's dominant ninth took the decision out of their hands entirely. Three strikeouts in a clean inning is exactly what a closer is supposed to do, and Miller delivered.

What's Next for the Yankees

The Yankees return to action with their road series continuing. New York will need to bounce back and find a way to generate offense earlier in games rather than relying on late-inning rallies that leave too little margin for error. With the regular season in its final stretch in September 2026, every game in the loss column carries added weight.